Wine, Tarts & Sex

Ten

“Get-me-Roman!” Leo punctuated each word with a fist to his polished desktop. “That fucking bitch Janie is gone!” he bellowed, glaring at his assistant who had come running at the screaming summons from his boss. “That cunt Betsy McCall-all sugar-sweet and malicious -just called to tell me she’d seen Janie at the airport yesterday. Janie had the fucking balls to take Matt out of New York! Don’t just stand there! Fucking do something!”

Ben began backing toward the door. “I’ll get right on it, sir,” he said with the blank look he’d learned to cultivate at times like this when Leo was going off the deep end.

Since he’d been given the orders to have the locks on the apartment changed, Janie’s departure didn’t come as a huge surprise to Ben. But then Leo only had one point of view- his own-which put him at a disadvantage at times like this when a modicum of empathy would have been useful.

“If she thinks for a second she’s going to have Matt, I’ve got a news flash for her!” Leo shrieked, like the madman he was. “Matt is my goddamn son! Mine, Goddammit! Mine! Mine! Mine!”

Leo Rolf’s face and bald pate were beet red edging toward purple, the violence of his temper, as always, disconcerting to those who were sane. Ben was almost to the exit of the mammoth office overlooking the East River. “I’ll see that Roman gets here ASAP, sir,” he said, hoping like hell Leo didn’t have a stroke right before his eyes. With Leo, there would always be that moment of hesitation about whether or not to call an ambulance. Like when Stalin lay dying and everyone in the politburo sat around playing cards instead of calling the doctor.

Leo Rolf was that kind of guy.

Not well loved.

But the perks of Ben’s position were hard to pass up. Trips around the world in Leo’s private jet, reservations at all the best hotels, meetings with world leaders who needed Leo’s particular brand of financial acumen and contacts. Ben Connor figured in five years his stock portfolio would allow him to retire and live like a king.

The instant Ben exited what he had come to refer to as the loony bin, he felt his shoulder muscles release what felt like fifty pounds of tension. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he quickly moved to his desk and punched in Roman Novak’s number on his speed dial. Roman was Leo’s go-to man who operated on the fringes of the law and did what was required of him, no questions asked. He could hack into the Pentagon if necessary and had a couple times when Leo wanted to know about contract bids from competitors. The defense industry was big money for Leo. Not that his pharmaceutical stock wasn’t doing well, too, along with his development sites on the East River and his new inroads into the Chinese market.

Roman picked up, curtailing Ben’s musing. “Crisis time. Leo wants you here five minutes ago.”

“What’s up?”

Roman always spoke calmly, like nothing ever rattled him. Although, Ben thought, if he was as big as Roman, maybe he could afford to be calm, too. “Here’s the picture.” Ben didn’t even try to sanitize the situation. In Roman’s line of work he’d seen it all. “Leo had the locks on his apartment changed yesterday when Janie and Matt were at the gym. Funny-she got mad about it and took off with Matt. He wants you to find his son and bring him back. Janie is expendable, of course. Leo will fill you in when you get here.”

“They left yesterday?”

“Apparently. He’s in an explosive mood. Just a warning. ”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can get through traffic.”

Ben hid in his office until Roman arrived, praying Leo wouldn’t shriek for him again. When Leo’s eyes were bulging like that and he was approaching that shade of eggplant, he wasn’t thinking too clearly. Ben didn’t want to get fired for saying the wrong thing, and with Leo in one of his out-of-control moods, even commenting on the weather could be a major blunder.

When Roman Novak strode into the office twenty minutes later, Ben looked up and exhaled, “Thank God,” like he’d been rescued from the Black Hole of Calcutta.

His relief was so obvious, Roman grinned. “Relax, kid. Leo’s just like all the rest of the big shots. A bully when he has his money and backup behind him, but not so brave when it’s mano a mano with someone his own size, if you know what I mean.”

“Easy for you to say.” Roman was a very large ex-NYPD detective who had boxed professionally as a youth. Still pretty much ripped beneath his custom Armani, he was capable of intimidating just about anyone.

Roman flashed a smile, all white teeth and good humor. “I hope you’re stashing away some of Leo’s money, kid. Then you can get out eventually, like his latest wife just did.”

“I doubt he’s planning on Janie getting out without a down-and-dirty slugfest. He’s really pissed she took his son as he puts it.”

“I always thought Leo had scored way above his pay grade with Janie. She’s damned nice. Too bad he didn’t have sense enough to know when he had a good thing. Don’t let him give you a heart attack, though. He’s all bluster. ”

“That might be, but he’s really into orbit over this. You know how he feels about his kids. Christ-the money he spent to gain custody of Sarah would have financed a third-world nation.”

“And the only reason he finally won that case was because Lisa was stupid enough to do cocaine in front of a photographer. Dumb shit.”

“She was a little ditzy.”

“She’s dumb as a post. Period. Little Janie has quite a few more smarts.” Roman nodded toward Leo’s office. “Tell him I’m here.” Then, without waiting for Ben to make the call, he walked to the door, shoved it open and, entering the sunlit room with the East River view, said in his deep, calm voice, “Hey, dude, your fixer is here.”

“It’s about fucking time!”

“My price goes up when people scream at me,” Roman murmured, shutting the door and standing perfectly still.

“Sorry.” Leo waved his hands in a dismissive gesture. “I’m just so fucking teed off. Come, sit down.” Another wave, indicating a chair. “You heard. Janie left with Matt.”

“I heard you changed the locks on the apartment,” Roman said, moving toward the chair.

Leo shrugged. “She began to bore me.”

“That must mean you have someone else in mind.”

Leo smiled faintly. “Maybe I do.”

“You’re gonna be right up there with Liz Taylor’s marital record if you keep this up,” Roman noted, sitting down. “Why the hell do you marry them all? It’s the twenty-first century. Haven’t you heard of cohabitation?”

“Call me old-fashioned.”

More like controlling, Roman thought. Four times married and counting was not exactly what you’d call old-fashioned values. Unless you had Henry the Eighth in mind as a role model. “Whatever you say, Leo.” He wasn’t a therapist. “So what do you want from me?”

“Find her, naturally, and bring my son back.”

“That could be construed as kidnapping.”

“Don’t shit me. Since when are you concerned with legalities? ”

“Since I’d be scaring the hell out of your kid. He’s pretty young to be yanked out of his mother’s arms by a stranger.”

“Bring them both back, then. I’ll deal with her myself.”

“Do you have any idea where they might have gone?”

“Not a clue.” Leo grimaced. “That’s why I need you.”

Leaning back in his chair, Roman held Leo’s gaze. “So who’s the new woman?”

Leo smiled. “One of our interns.”

“That’s getting pretty young.” Leo was officially late fifties but actually mid-sixties. Tanned and semitoned by a personal trainer, he liked to think he didn’t look his age.

“So?”

Roman shrugged. “So nothing, I guess.” He came to his feet. “I’ll give you a call when I know something.”

As Roman exited Leo’s office, Ben shot him a raised-eyebrows look. “Has he calmed down?”

“Semi. Who’s the new babe in his life?”

“Hannah Reiss. A tall, leggy blonde, big boobs-maybe real. She doesn’t want to work all her life.”

“I see. And Leo took the bait.”

“She’s good-looking, sharp, smooth as silk. Anyone would take the bait, but she didn’t put out for anyone in middle management. She went straight to the top.”

“Jeez. And I suppose he believes her when she tells him he’s great in the sack.”

“Fucking a. Leo eats up her phony flattery; they giggle on the phone. It’s disgusting.”

“You shouldn’t listen in on conversations.”

“You should talk. Anyway, it’s self-preservation.”

“You have lasted longer than the others.”

Ben grinned. “I have the bloody record, and you know it.”

Roman smiled. “Can’t argue there. Not that I’m any different than anyone else. I put up with him and take his money, too, just like this new little Hannah Reiss is gonna do.”

“She’s not little. She’s pushing five ten. Them together is like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. I figure any day now, Leo’s going to get lifts. So, are you bringing his kid back or what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Ben’s gaze narrowed. “You didn’t tell him that.”

“I don’t tell him anything.” Leo’s go-to guy lifted his hand in a casual wave. “I’ll stay in touch.”